Improvement in fire-proof tiling for floors and ceilings



'1. SOUNDS.

*Improvement inFire-Proof ming for Floors and ceilings.

No`128,v944. .Y Y Patented my 16, 1872@ NrrnA ESTATES muon.

JAMES BOUNDS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 128,944, dated July 16, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES BoUNDs, of the city of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Floors or Ceilings for Fire- Proof Buildings; andV I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the 'ani neXed drawing making part hereof, in which- Figure l is a perspective View of my improvement; Fig. 2, a vertical longitudinal sectional View on line T W of Fig. l; Fig. 3, a vertical cross-sectional view on line X Y of Fig. 1.

My invention consists of an improved ventilating, fire-proof, truncated iioor and ceiling tile, made of terra-cotta, cement, artificial stone, metals, or other incombustible material, the whole to be niade and arranged substantially as shown and set forth in the drawing and in the following description. The tile is open for ventilation, but this feature may be omitted. One of the features of my tile is that it completely covers and protects the beams, joists, or girders.

To enable others skilled in the art to make andnse my invention, I will describe its construction and operation.

In the drawing, A is the body of the tile; B, the girder, joist, or beam; (I shall hereafter, in the specifioation,for the sake of brevity, call it a girder;) O G,bulkheads or partitions; D, a brace for supporting these partitions, and acts also as a partition itself, as will be hereinafter shown; E E, openings in the Vsides of the tile; G, an opening in the bottom of the tile; H, the bottom of the tile; I, the top; K K, the sides; L, slots in the ends of the tiles to receive the flanges or edges of the girders. M, Fig. 2, shows the girder completely covered and protected.

I prefer to construct the tile 'of some lireproof material,which will not warp or bend or be otherwise injuriously affected on coming in contact with flame or heat; and I will describe the construction of a tile made of terracotta, using girders of iron.

The body A of the tile, composed of the sides K K and the `top I and bottom H, is formed lirst, leaving its ends open, and the slots L are cut in the sides a short distance above the bottom, and below the top inthe' ends, as shown; these slots are left or out out to receive the edges of the ilanges of a double- T, or an I-shaped girder when such a girder is used, and the sides K do not extend out quite so far by half the thickness of the girder as the top I and bottom H," The girder B is in this manner clasped and completely covered and protected, as shown at M, Fig. 2, when two of the tiles are joined at the ends, as shown.

The tiles are laid after the girders have been put down7 but not secured in place; and after all the\ tiles are slipped into place between the girders, said girders are securely fastened at their ends and another girder being laid down at such a distance from its fellow girder as will leave space sufticientlywide to receive a tile; the rest of the tiles are then slipped into place. In inserting the tiles two girders are` rst laid parallel to each other; they are then drawn slightly apart at one end, so as not to be precisely parallel; the tiles are then inserted at the end where the girders are furthest apart and slipped along on the ilanges of the girders to their other end, where the girders fit exactly into the slots L in the tile, the edge K fitting closely up against the girder.

The tiles may have openings, G and E, for ventilation. There may be one lor more openings, G, which will appear as in the ceiling of the room below the floor. The air enters the 'opening and passes through openings E to a ilue in the wall. There is no obstruction to the air so passing through the openings E, as each tile is supplied with such openings, and, as they lie side by side, these openings E form a continuous ue in the floor. In case of lire in the room below a great portion of the heat may pass off through these openings G and E.

In this case the girder B is prevented from be.

ing affected by the heat entering the interior of the tile by the bulk-head or partitions C C; and the top I ofthe tile, which forms the floor of the room above, is protected from the heat by the partition D, which extends horizontally the length and breadth of the interior of the tile and forms an air-space between itself and the top I of the tile; it also acts as abrace to the partitions C, holding them in place.

These Ventilating orifices may be dispensed with, in which case the interior of the tile being an ineiosed air-space there is no danger to .the gir-der B, or the upper part I of the tile,

' ters Patent, is-

1. A fire-proof door and ceiling tile having flanges Mor slots L, or their equivalents, which cover and protect the girder, joist, or beam, substantially as and for the purpose specified.

2. A reproof oor and ceiling tile with orifices for ventilation, and partition D for the purpose specified-Wiz., to prevent the transmission of heat to the upper part of the tile, 0r to the Hoor abovesubstantially as described.

JAMES BOUNDS.

Witnesses Gnus. H. SUNGRET, HENRY HOWARD. 

